MONTREAL DIOCESAN THEOLOGICAL COLLEGE
This College was founded in the year 1873, by the late Rt. Rev. Ashton Oxenden, D.D., then Bishop of Montreal and Metropolitan of Canada. He makes the following reference to it in his autobiography:
“I, at length, felt justified in taking a step for the good of my own Diocese. I decided on establishing a Theological College in Montreal, for the training of our candidates for Holy Orders. With this view, I procured from England, the aid of a first-rate man, Mr. Lobley, a late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, who undertook the office of Principal. He was a good and able man, and, in the face of many difficulties which he fearlessly surmounted, he started the College, which has now become a prominent and useful feature in the Diocese. On his subsequent promotion to the Principalship of Bishop’s College, Lennoxville, he was succeeded by Doctor Henderson, under whose steady and unflagging superintendence the College still flourishes.”—(Extract from “History of My Life,” 1891.)
The step was forced upon Bishop Oxenden by the rapid growth of the Church in the Diocese, and the impossibility of securing in any other way a satisfactory supply of clergy to meet the increasing needs of his Diocese.
The work of the College began in the Library of the Synod Hall, and was carried on there for eight years, when a more suitable building was provided by the munificence of the late A.F. Gault, who purchased the property, 896 Dorchester Street, now occupied by the Young Women’s Christian Association, at a cost of $23,000, and presented it to the College in trust.
There the work was continued under much more favorable conditions, as a permanent home was provided for both Principal and Students. Additional funds were raised which secured the appointment of a resident Tutor to assist the Principal, and provided remuneration for different clergy of the city who lectured regularly in the College. Among the first lecturers were the late Most Rev. W.B. Bond, Archbishop of Montreal; the late Rt. Rev. James Carmichael, D.D., Coadjutor Bishop of Montreal; the late Rt. Rev. E. Sullivan, D.D., formerly Bishop of Algoma, and afterwards Rector of St. James Cathedral, Toronto; the late Rt. Rev. Maurice S. Baldwin, D.D., Bishop of Huron; Rt. Rev. J.P. Du Moulin, D.D., Bishop of Niagara.
While its internal growth was thus satisfactory, the position of the College as a Church institution was more clearly defined, and its relations with the educational world were extended. In 1879, an act of incorporation was obtained from the Legislature of Quebec, and in 1880, it was affiliated with the University of McGill College.
In 1891, by the Canon relating to Degrees in Divinity, the Diocesan Theological College, with the five other theological colleges of this ecclesiastical province, was duly recognized by the Provincial Synod of Canada, and entitled to representation on the Board of Examiners for degrees in Divinity.
In 1895, owing to the increasing influence and needs of the College, the late A.F. Gault announced his intention of presenting a more suitable building and of adding to the endowment of the College. The “Holland” property on University Street was purchased for that purpose, and a very handsome and commodious building erected. The building, which is in the collegiate gothic style, includes a semi-detached residence for the Principal, a chapel with a seating capacity for fifty students, a convocation hall capable of holding 500 persons, commodious lecture rooms, dining room, library, gymnasium and accommodation for about thirty-five resident students. The whole was also magnificently furnished by the same generous donor, and the sum of $50,000 was added to the endowment.
The buildings and additional endowment were formally handed over to the Bishop of the Diocese on the occasion of the opening of the College, on October 21, 1906, in the presence of His Grace the Primate of all Canada, and a number of other bishops, clergy, and visitors, and these were given in perpetuity without conditions of any kind in trust to the Bishop of Montreal and his successors.